During electrical power failures, all devices which are electrically operated fail and accordingly people are deprived of heat and other commodities and this can become a serious problem during long periods of power failure during major breakdowns of the electrical power distribution systems. Such a major breakdown was experienced recently in the Northeast part of the United States and the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, Canada. Needless to say, such power failures are extremely costly and often lead to serious injury and death.
A solution to partly remedy the above-mentioned problem is to install fuel powered generators to supply electricity. However, these are costly, they occupy a large space, they are noisy and may fail if they are not constantly replenished with fuel.